Pro Evolution Soccer

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Konami's soccer title is shaping up well with its European version. Screens and details inside.

By IGN Staff

The battle for videogame soccer supremacy is set to be more heated than ever before this fall in Europe. Sony's This is Football 2002 is turning in an excellent performance, FIFA 2002 will actually have more than just bells and whistles improvements, and Konami has seriously upgraded the forthcoming PAL release of it's Winning Eleven 5 soccer game.

Winning Eleven 5 will be called Pro Evolution Soccer when released in Europe, November 23 (and is the Konami soccer game closest to ESPN MLS Extra Time for the US market). Let's take a look.

Anal Soccer Details Konami has gone to town on improving the European release, with not just a straight conversion but a much-improved conversion. First up, the visuals are noticeably better and they were pretty damn good in the first place. There are dozens of little new animations that make a world of difference to fans of the series and to some extent more casual players as well. Fast players such as Giggs (rather hilariously named and referred by the commentators as Greggs in the preview code) take the ball down while running full steam ahead by flicking it under their leg, and the way the players dribble now to create open space for themselves is stunningly realistic looking. There also are a few more falling down animations instead of the single, rather dumb-looking flat-on-their face animation present in Winning Eleven 5. While trying to go for headers, attackers will often topple over the defenders and players desperately reach out for out of reach passes and headers.

Basically, all the little missing details in WE5 have been added, which results in a far better-looking game as the movement of the players is smoother and more realistic. What is more important in terms of gameplay is that while the players turn noticeably slower than before, skilled players can hold onto the ball if you time the dribbles and turns perfectly. In Winning Eleven 5 it was frustrating, no make that near impossible to hold on to the ball even with highly skilled players like Zidane, Totti and McManaman. Now it's possible to fake out defenders, dribble your way into the box and give a pass to an open attacker to try it for yourself.

This creates a far more realistic feel to the proceedings, as against weak teams you can consistently cause trouble to the defense with skilled midfielders who can then create spaces for attackers. Slow but skilled players such as Raul are now lethal when in close proximity to the goal. While in WE5, trying to outrun a defender was near impossible, in the new rev the fighting and shirt-pulling while steaming ahead toward the goal is very realistic.

The ball physics are improved as well. The ball is a bit more "alive" than before. It's possible to get lucky dribbles and bounces and sometimes even put the ball through defenders' legs. A major criticism aimed at WE5 -- besides the crap goalkeeper AI -- was the weakened shooting. Not so anymore, as Pro Evolution Soccer takes a leaf out of ISS Pro Evolution 2's book by putting a lot more velocity into the shots.

We are not talking about an unrealistic level here, but it's now possible to sink in shots from beyond the box with players like Batistuta and Beckham, and the shots aren't the floaty, wimpy kind as in WE5 but real power shots.

Scoring isn't any easier. On the contrary, the goalkeepers have been improved and gotten a few new animations. The goalies manage to get their hands on the ball far more often than before, and now they actually manage to save a few headers now and then.

Five different long-pass options are offered, which give varying degrees of player control. The basic setting gives automatic aiming and crossing while the fifth setting gives full control, passes have to be aimed manually and crosses are achieved by pressing both the long pass button and L1. Lob shots also can be either produced by double tapping shoot or pressing shoot in conjunction with L1. Attackers are also more effective in getting through passes than before.

New Game Modes As always, team rosters have been updated. Many players are noticeably more accurate in terms of their facial detail than before (a nice little detail is the way the referees now scribble down the names of players who get carded). There're 32 club teams with all the major ones (and err...Borussia Dortmund) represented, and more than 50 national teams are in place. About half of those have real player names thanks to the FIFPro license; the rest of the players are closely named after the real players. It's quite easy if time-consuming to change the names into the correct ones.

Four new stadia have been added and all are sumptuously modeled and lit. There's the Monte Carlo Stadium, the home of Bayern Munchen, a.k.a. the Olympia Stadium, an Asian stadium (probably the place where the final of next year's Soccer World Championships will take place), and one more Spanish stadium. The lighting and the rich colors really set the game apart in giving it a very arcade look that's backed up by some seriously deep gameplay.

Instead of three difficulty levels, PES offers five different levels and plenty of tournaments to choose from to boot. Up to eight players can take part in the proceedings and slowdown hasn't occurred in the extensive testing done here at IGN's European offices.

At the end of the match, highlights are shown, a nice addition. Before each match a cool-looking and atmospheric setting introduction takes places, and while this is mostly the same as in WE5, there's a little addition where the roster lists are spread out on a 2D pitch, forming into the Formation selected. Nice touch.

While it's not immediately visible on the surface (all the menus sport new visuals though), a tremendous amount of small changes have been made to the gameplay and the visuals, finally providing European gamers with a deservedly brilliant PAL (and according to sources, a US release is more than likely) conversion with only small black borders on the top and bottom.